The Nature Conservancy Maps

Natlas

August 2026

As a geospatial intern with The Nature Conservancy in Vermont, I designed 16 hiking maps for the Natlas, a collection of Natural Area maps built to serve hikers, hunters, stewardship staff, and TNC as a whole. Each map layers natural communities, topography, and hydrology into a clear, field-ready reference for a diverse, non-cartographer audience.

I used Google Earth Engine to code a custom hillshade and to map forest versus field cover using the Hansen et al. (2013) global forest change dataset. In ArcGIS Pro, I managed and cleaned trail data, applying definition queries to remove any trails not publicly accessible or not intended for hiking, ensuring each map reflected only usable, permitted routes. I then moved into QGIS to build the map layout and generate contour lines, before finalizing each map in Adobe Illustrator, where I designed labels, headers, and legends for a consistent, polished series across all 16 preserves.

This October, I'm presenting this series at the North American Cartographic Information Society conference in Milwaukee. My talk, "Mapping the Natlas: Cartography to Conservation in Vermont," walks through the full workflow from data processing to final design, and the choices made to balance public accessibility with the technical needs of land stewards, along with lessons learned building multi-use conservation maps for a broad audience.

Invasive Surveys

July 2026

Part of a series of five maps developed for The Nature Conservancy's invasive species surveys, this project mapped the distribution of invasive species and identified the appropriate management treatment for each survey location to support effective removal efforts. To inform conservation planning, I also highlighted the locations of rare and uncommon species relative to invasive populations, indicating where treatment should be prioritized to protect them.

Working closely with TNC-VT's stewardship team, I participated in field surveys at several sites to better understand on-the-ground conditions and design maps that effectively support contractors and land managers.

I used Google Earth Engine to generate a hillshade for terrain context, then moved into ArcGIS Pro to build a heatmap of invasive species occurrence and apply definition queries to separate infestations into distinct layers by management treatment, including cut stump, hand pull, and foliar and clip-and-drip methods. I used QGIS to build the map layout before exporting into Adobe Illustrator, where I focused on final design, labeling, and legend work to make each map clear and usable in the field.